A bright ray of originality in the otherwise repetitive zombie genre

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2009)

28 Days Later is one of those movies that grabs your attention the instant it begins, and holds it with a tight vice grip until the end credits roll.
Just the sight of London completely deserted, and the chilling silence as the main character Jim, who is played by Cillian Murphy brilliantly, is walking through the once famous city turned ghost town, is enough to really get you thinking. For a solid three minutes, all you see is Jim walking through the city and exploring the places he has come to know, which have all been completely left behind. It may not sound like anything too special, but sitting for three minutes and watching someone walk through a deserted city with complete silence around them is pretty freaky in itself.
From that point on, everything unfolds at a perfect pace, and when you are introduced to the zombies of the film, which are labeled simply as "The Infected," you can feel your heart pulsating in your chest, constantly alert for any moment when one of the Infected will come jumping into sight, and in many ways, it feels like you are smack in the middle of the film, staying on your toes and watching for any Infected that may come bounding recklessly towards you. And believe me, that feeling makes this film very, very fun.
I don't have an awful lot to say about the acting, other than it was great, particularly Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris.
To be honest, I think this film wasn't quite deserving of the R rating. In my opinion, it could have been one of those PG13's that pretty much walk the borderline, because pretty much the only things that got the big fat R slapped on this were the brutal and gory scenes (especially towards the end), plenty of F-bombs, and a few scenes containing brief nudity.
But in all honesty, who cares? It was a great movie, and I think any horror junkie will have a great time.
7.5/10 rounded up to an 8 by IMDb.